Suppose you ask most IT leaders to list their top cybersecurity tools. In that case, you’ll typically hear responses like firewalls, endpoint protection, email security, cloud access security brokers, and maybe even intrusion detection systems. But rarely will anyone mention virtual private networks (VPNs).
This oversight persists despite VPNs providing one of the most fundamental and crucial security capabilities—safeguarding data in transit across networks and the public internet. Whether connecting remote employees, securing Wi-Fi traffic, enabling cloud adoption, or simply browsing the web, virtually all organizations rely on VPNs as the backbone of encryption and access controls.
Shifting Perceptions on the Security Roles VPN Solutions
Let’s first examine why perceptions don’t always match up with the increasingly vital security functions of VPNs…
VPN Capabilities Have Lagged
Cybersecurity threats have rapidly grown more sophisticated over the past decade, targeting new attack surfaces like cloud and mobile. However, some VPN implementations haven’t advanced at the same pace in terms of features and security controls. Outdated set-it-and-forget-it architectures lead many IT teams to undervalue or dismiss the modern security muscle of VPN services.
Associated Only with Remote Access
As more businesses shift to cloud apps, let employees use personal devices, and support a mobile workforce, the remote access use case typically dominates VPN conversations. This narrow association masks the expanding security value of VPN services for on-network and endpoint protection.
Viewed as Redundant to Perimeter Security
Some IT professionals seem to consider hardware firewalls, proxies, gateways, and similar network security layers sufficient protection. But without the inner encryption and access controls provided by VPNs, these perimeter defenses only force attackers to get more creative. VPNs provide ubiquitous protection for authorized access and secure tunnels.
Regarded as Too Disruptive
There’s a notion that enterprise VPNs’ encrypted tunnels and device management degrade performance, disrupt workflows, inhibit visibility, and complicate troubleshooting. While this was true in the past, leading VPN solutions now integrate seamlessly with minimal lag time. Some even enhance monitoring, analytics, and threat response.
Now, let’s move on to explore five modern threats an enterprise VPN can mitigate, along with powerful features beyond encryption.
1. Wi-Fi Hacking
We all take advantage of free public Wi-Fi from time to time. It’s super convenient to quickly jump online at the airport, hotel, or your local coffee shop. But those unsecured connections pose security risks that can really come back to bite you.
Hackers use what are called “man-in-the-middle attacks” to intercept everything you send over public Wi-Fi. By inserting themselves between your device and the internet, they can steal login credentials, financial information, personal data, and other sensitive information. It’s straightforward for them to do when no encryption protects your transmissions.
Turning on a VPN thwarts these Wi-Fi hackers by hiding and encrypting everything behind a secure tunnel. Instead of exposing raw internet traffic for anyone to spy on, a VPN scrubs the data clean so that it’s unreadable by outsiders. You can browse and work freely using public hotspots without worrying about getting hacked. Of course, this is a supremely valuable asset in this work-from-home world.
2. Malware Infections
You’ve likely dealt with malware before—viruses, spyware, and ransomware. It slows down your computer, crashes apps, or locks up your files until you pay a ransom. Well, the latest malware threats are even more advanced and can easily bypass old-school antivirus. A single infected click can create a massive headache.
But your risk plummets with a robust business-class VPN. It’ll block malicious sites and activity before an infection occurs. If something still slips through, encrypted connections prevent viruses from spreading across the network. So, while consumer antivirus software helps, enterprises need the extra malware defenses of a VPN.
3. Unsecured Cloud Apps
Cloud applications like Office 365, Salesforce, Slack, and others simplify collaboration through anywhere access. However, transmitting data to and from the cloud can expose it to compromised Wi-Fi, hacked ISP infrastructure, and other cybercriminal activity.
VPN micro tunneling keeps cloud communications secure. Traffic to and from approved SaaS apps travels inside an encrypted VPN tunnel, remaining completely private while flowing across the internet. Integrating business VPN capabilities with your sanctioned cloud tools prevents outsider theft of sensitive information.
4. Internal Threats
Companies often focus security efforts on keeping external threats at bay. However, insider threats pose an even more significant danger to sensitive data and systems, whether they’re compromised credentials, stolen laptops, or rogue employees. People who already have access put organizations at the highest risk.
High-grade VPN access controls mitigate insider threats by restricting access on a granular level per user, group, device, app, and content repository. Attempts to reach unauthorized resources are automatically blocked. Running traffic over encrypted tunnels also keeps communications private from internal prying eyes. Limiting access and activities based on role helps thwart malicious insider actions.
For example, a VPN can prohibit external connections to confidential databases while allowing remote desktop access to employees’ work computers. Or if someone in finance gets fired, their account and device can instantly get revoked everywhere while IT drills down to undo connected access privileges.
5. Unmanaged BYOD
The bring-your-own-device (BYOD) approach provides workplace flexibility but also widens exposure. Personal phones, laptops, and tablets harbor increasing corporate data through email access, chat apps, cloud file sharing, and more. Lost or compromised employee-owned devices become easy gateways for attacking connected business systems.
The answer lies in managing BYOD devices similarly to company-owned equipment enabled by VPN capabilities. Advanced VPN clients extend consistent access controls, malware prevention, and encryption policies to all BYOD endpoints accessing internal resources. Stolen device workflows also improve – missing equipment can be remotely located and wiped instantly over the VPN through centralized IT administration.
Getting control over unmanaged BYOD requires welcoming personal devices onto the corporate VPN guest network to apply security without hindering personal usage. Company data stays protected at all times, while employees maintain privacy over personal photos, texts, apps, and other content unrelated to work. It’s a win-win for both the organization and staff.
Going Beyond Encryption
While encrypting network traffic is the foundation all VPN services provide, enterprise-grade solutions take several steps further to transform VPNs into an adaptive security layer.
Leading solutions integrate directly with endpoint protection platforms (EPP) for increased visibility and control across all endpoint traffic. Security policies follow devices no matter where they connect from. IT teams can continuously adapt access controls and restrictions based on users, apps, vulnerabilities, threats—the list goes on.
Some advanced enterprise VPNs offer cloud sandboxing and full packet inspection. Running suspicious files or packets in an isolated cloud environment probes them for malicious activity without allowing that activity to impact your actual network.
Deep packet inspection then correlates findings across the environment to identify compromised endpoints exhibiting unusual behavior indicative of a successful attack. Both capabilities enhance threat detection and automated response via the VPN service.
Final Word
As threats grow in scale and sophistication, it’s essential to evaluate whether your security tools provide sufficient safeguards. Consumer-grade solutions often lack the advanced features to detect and thwart sophisticated hackers and the latest attacks like ransomware-as-a-service.
Upgrading to an enterprise-grade VPN should be a top priority for strengthening institutional defenses. With military-grade encryption, strict access rules, cloud security, and unified endpoint management, you know that corporate data and productivity won’t be disrupted.
